It's been rough and rocky travelin',
But I'm finally standin' upright on the ground.
After takin' several readings,
I'm surprised to find my mind`s still fairly sound -- Willie Nelson
It started simply enough.
I was a geeky junior high school smart ass; by contrast, Paul was a popular junior high [...]
During this year’s final mayoral debate, Bill Thompson was said by the local commentariat to have made two grievous errors, which were only not said to be fatal in and of themselves because his candidacy was pronounced by the same wise-men to be in a state of extremis, for which [...]
“No new taxes,” was Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson's response to a question regarding the state's budget reduction negotiations.
“We are holding the ground on midyear school cuts. We are trying to mitigate or minimize the cuts to health care. We are looking at things we are trying to cut across the board with respect to agencies,” said Sampson, and “also making a sweep of those authorities that have additional capital and monies in those areas.”
Rick Lazio says:
"[Last year's state] budget should never have been enacted," said Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010. He said instead of making harder, long-term fixes, Albany is "lurching from special session to special session ... we are barreling toward fiscal collapse. We need adult supervision."
Hey [...]
One of the arguments in support of the creation of New York City Campaign Finance Law was that by providing funds to insurgent candidates and limiting the amounts that could be contributed, City elections would become more competitive.
With the huge number of incumbents getting re-elected since the law came into [...]
via Room Eight
A Chance to Make History
Dear Friends,
Our election may be over, but there are still some critically important campaigns that have yet to have been decided.
Annise Parker, the current Houston City Controller, is running to be Mayor of Houston, the nation's 4th largest city. If elected, she would [...]
via the NY Times
Spitzer Talks About, Well, EthicsFormer Gov. Eliot Spitzer was invited to speak at Harvard University on Thursday about what first made him famous: policing Wall Street. Mention of the prostitution scandal that made [...]
Looks like Rick Lazio and Chris Collins are as good as it's going to get for NYS GOP in the 2010 gubernatorial race. That Lazio hasn't said or emoted anything remotely approaching the milieu of bizarro utterances from the Six Sigma Sertified Savant from Buffalo, probably makes Lazio the front runner. Word's already on the street that Collins is a real bozo.
For his part, Lazio appears [...]
It deeply offends me that our Democratic Governor, David Paterson continues to ignore sound alternatives addressing New York State’s deficits. Instead, his proposed budget cuts slash $686 million from public education.
His cuts include $223 million from New York City’s schools. Fifty-one percent of the cuts target high poverty school districts [...]
All weekend, I have been mulling over whether I should post this. As someone who tries not to allow myself to be easily manipulated, I had to make sure I was not being goaded into reacting instead of responding. I have come to the conclusion that the person in question [...]
Eight years ago, this was the political landscape in the U.S
There was a Republican President who was elected with 47.9% of the popular vote.
Republicans controlled the US Senate 51-49 and the House of Representatives 229-206.
Democrats had just been elected Governors of New Jersey & Virginia, after [...]
The following is a quote from David Seifman's New York Post column of this morning:
Mayor Bloomberg's campaign crew's excuses for his shockingly close 4.6 percentage-point win over Bill Thompson go something like this:
* No matter that we consistently told everyone publicly he was leading by double [...]
It would be a mistake to classify Bloomberg's November 4 mayoral reelection win as anything but a defeat for the working people of New York City. At the same time, however, there is no reason to despair; on the contrary the election results represent a basis for optimism moving forward.
First, [...]
Now it can be told.
Last year, I used my Election Day vacation in an effort to help make Malcolm Smith the State Senate Majority Leader;
Having seen how that worked out, this year I used my day off to take care of my sick son Dybbuk and his new [...]
On Friday, three days after the his Marist Poll was shown to be off by a significant margin in the New York City Mayoral Election for the second election in a row, poll director Lee Miringoff claims an unreleased poll was actually right!
A Marist poll completed the [...]
Barron is serious. At a recent meeting of the United African Movement, Barron told the audience that he would soon make a formal announcement of his campaign to be elected Council Speaker. After two terms in office, Barron says he has the skills for the position: a working knowledge of [...]
In the film “Chariots of Fire” a rich man of Jewish origins sets out with a goal in mind and proceeds to dedicate all of his considerable resources, both material and from within, to its achievement.
Any resemblance to the current Mayor of the City of New York are unintentional, [...]
It is sad to witness the post mortem finger pointing just 24 hours after the Thompson upset loss of the Mayoralty. Bloomberg's people were smart and sharp -- they hid what they knew about the polls from the people. Howard Wolfson so dramatically ridiculed Thompson's pollster as creating a new [...]
The DN's Errol Louis flagged this interview Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook gave NY1 last night at Bill Thompson's party, which perfectly captures the anger among Thompson supports at Democrats who stayed on the fence.
Seabrook, whose union endorsed Mayor Bloomberg in 2001 and 2005, [...]
I recently argued in this space that New York State has no real political parties (with the possible exception of the Conservative). I saw nothing last night to make me re-evaluate that conclusion, but that is a talk for another time.
Unlike in New York State, there is something [...]
10:26 PM
76% of precincts reporting
Bloomberg 50%
Thompson 47%
“There is a out there a great seething resentment, not all of it rational, but much of it quite on the mark, for the sort of clueless lack of concern over this legitimate frustration. And for many, Bloomberg is its personification. In fact, the [...]
The time: 1965.
The place: Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Somewhere around 1949, the 40,000 strong Jewish community of the Silk City, Paterson, New Jersey (where my maternal great-grandfather ran a textile mill in partnership with noted designer Boris Kroll, and where my paternal grandfather lived between bankruptcies by hustling [...]Today, I grudgingly rolled down to the same location at 7:30 am. There' [...]
THE STEPHEN KAUFMAN NEWSLETTER
Council Candidate District 5 Manhattan
IF I DO NOT WIN THIS ELECTION
“YOU, THE PEOPLE” LOSE, NOT ME!
If you have issues about voting for me on the Republican line
vote for me on the Independence line.
YOU MUST GET OUT AND VOTE!
You know my positions on the major issues [...]
It's Election Day. Today we as voters have an opportunity to elect a new mayor, but, perhaps more importantly, show [...]
So it has come down to this. I check out The Housing Bubble Blog to look over today links and street level comments on the real estate collapse, and who has purchased the banner ad? You guessed it, Mike Bloomberg. Aside from myself, how many NYC residents are likely [...]
Chapter 1: Blame It on Al
Al Vann, after 35 years in elected office, is at risk of being displaced. If Vann loses, it will be his own fault. Among other missteps, Vann voted himself a 25% pay increase (for a part time job) and supported Bloomberg's ruinous extension of term [...]
KURT VONNEGUT: If you wish to study a granfalloon, just remove the skin of a toy balloon.
In Part One, entitled “Cats Cradle“, I sadly put forth the proposition that all of New York’s ballot status parties, save the Conservatives, were granfalloons. The creator of that term, Kurt Vonnegut, defined [...]KURT VONNEGUT: A granfalloon is a proud and meaningless association of human beings.
I have not for decades felt the need to cite a quotation from the master of making the whimsical seem profound; not at least since the day long ago when I made the adolescent-switch away from airplane [...]
More than a week the question on Capitol Hill was “Who are these clergy and where did they come from?” More than 100 clergy, members of Brooklyn-based Churches United to Save and Heal (CUSH), descended upon Capitol Hill Wednesday, Oct. 21 to press Congress for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR).
[...]Steve Malanga, senior editor of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal has an Op-Ed in Sunday’s New York Post complaining about how New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is responsible for ruining because of high taxes.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bribing_the_voters_of_new_jersey_wc8CPVLsmQe5klWsuOeqD
“The state has one of the most progressive income tax structures, so that residents earning more than [...]
I have previously written that I believe there are now two electorates in the US. One is a pretty small one that consists of people like the readers of this blog and others like it and faithful viewers of the cable news yappers of the left, right & center – [...]
Bill Thompson recently spoke to a forum on poverty, hunger and homelessness in New York City.
Everybody's got their own rich-and-famous posterboy New Yorker who's left the state and moved to Florida. For some like Tom Golisano, it's Tom Golisano. For others like the Empire Center, it's probably Rush Limbaugh.
For NGD, our guy is Joey Calco, who took his skills, talent and earnings to Florida. This guy was in [...]
What is all the fuss about Bill Thompson's giving Mike Bloomberg a D-- during the last Mayoral debate? In my October 3rd post I reached about the same conclusion.
In that post I noted that Bloomberg's economic development policies had failed the City miserably. Interestingly, The New York Times, a Bloomberg [...]
After 16 continuous years of Republican mayors in New York City, you would think that there would be an urgency amongst democrats (nationwide) to get rid of this present pompous and arrogant mayor Michael Bloomberg: well you could have fooled me. After watching President Barack Obama (and surely his political [...]
Come next Tuesday 3rd November 2009, Mr. Carrie Solages will be on the ballot for County Clerk of Nassau. This Long Island native is a thirty year old lawyer employed at his family’s law firm (Solages and Solages). He has been described as “the young rising star of the Nassau [...]
Fed Up New Yorkers has released an Open Letter to New Yorkers, a preamble to what the contributors call “our review of Michael Bloomberg's ruinous eight-years a mayor of New York City.” According to the writers, “It describes the facts of that record in detail and contrasts them with the [...]
NYPIRG, the Albany Times-Union & Bill Hammond of the Daly News are upset about a legal defense fund set up [...]
via City Room
Talk about a role reversal: William C. Thompson Jr. is giving Christine C. Quinn the cold shoulder.
Mr. Thompson, the Democratic mayoral candidate, has deliberately delayed announcing an endorsement from Ms. Quinn, the speaker of the New York City Council, leaving her in a very [...]
You will not read it in the NY Times, Post or Daily News. Word on the streets from the common voter -- you know, the ones pollsters and opinionators don't reach -- is that Michael Bloomberg is the most divisive mayor in recent memory. When the words “mayor” and “divisive” [...]
As Christine Quinn continues to play coy about endorsing the Democratic candidate for Mayor, one thing has become crystal clear, the Council must not elect her to another term as Speaker.
One must remember that the election of the Speaker of the Council is purely political. She is elected by the [...]
This week let's examines another quick-fix canard: That pension fund boards like California's are inherently superior to solely administered pension funds like New York's.
And to ascertain how much and how so--just like with initiative and referendum, term limits and tax caps--California again leads the way. So the next time the New York Post writes that New [...]
The Obama Administration has been smoothing a new message as of late that they are simply trying to make all of our pain go away. Not everyone believes in the system, but many people really do believe in Barack Obama. The problem is, the various systems are being questioned for [...]
What’s the fuss?
Do tell me what’s happening?
All this talk from right-wing republicans about whether or not Barack Obama deserved to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize comes from spiteful and resentful perches. Always remember that there are very few people who possess the moral courage to support another’s success without [...]
JUSTICE WILLIAM ERLBAUM: The American verdict of 'not guilty' can indicate one of two things,…Innocence, or the case is not proven. In the case of these [felony assault counts], the case has not been proven.
Agree with the verdict or not, Justice Erlbaum’s words, with their implicit acknowledgment of what he [...]
As we hit the two week mark for the New York City Mayoral election, all people who believe in democracy should be very depressed. We are witnessing one man buying himself a third term, a term which the people of this City had twice voted against.
It is beyond discouraging to [...]
On Monday, I read about Rudy Giuliani’s speech in support of Mike Bloomberg
STEPHEN KAUFMAN
Council Candidate District 5 Manhattan
www.KaufmanCouncilman2009.com
sfk422@gmail.com
“I am the leader that you have been seeking. I stand to serve. Try me! (Notice I didn’t say “trust me,” I said try me.) You have everything to gain and nothing to lose except the status quo inadequacy and incompetence of the Democrat machine.”
PLATFORM [...]
Reality bites. Again. As in jumping up and biting in the ass of those making a living out of New York dying.
NGD has done this kind of thing before, so this is more or less an update. This blog would like to say that it doesn't enjoy rubbing this crowd's nose in what has become a constant and relentless repudiation of their self-serving [...]
Does anyone here have an opinion on Tuesday's mayoral debate between Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson?
Mayoral Race Nostalgia: What's Christopher X. Brodeur doing these days?
via the NY Times
Ms. Keaney held a meeting at City Hall at which she told labor leaders that unions, as they had sought, would not be covered by the bill’s “pay to play” restrictions, and that they should refrain from trumpeting that.
None of the three union officials agreed to be [...]
I haven’t done a “grapevines” column in ages so here goes. Too many people are saying that David Paterson needs to step gingerly out of the upcoming gubernatorial race: too many people. I wonder why? If I were David I would be gearing up to run by giving them all [...]
The Atlantic Antic had been a triumph for six year old Dybbuk.
Already having persuaded Domestic Partner to buy him $50 worth of toy MTA trains, he climaxed the afternoon by sneaking behind the Police barriers in front of the Waterfront Alehouse, treating those watching the second set by the [...]
I happen to like Bill Thompson just fine; he’s a smart and thoughtful guy who has served our city well at the Board of Education and as Comptroller.
To the extent that Mike Bloomberg’s educational policies have been about unclogging the deteriorated arteries of 110 Livingston to do an emergency [...]
There was a little noticed "puff piece" this past week in The New York Times. The article highlighted the campaign inner circles of both Bloomberg and Thompson. In reading the piece there was nothing too surprising. The senior staffs had the backgrounds one would expect. What should have stood out [...]
Introduction
I am circulating this plan at this late stage of the health care debate because most of the proposals out there are totally inadequate. This plan is a hybrid of government provided coverage, private insurance and regional and trade association co-ops (Not as public option replacements, but as an [...]
Okay, so many of you are going to say this is a stretch, but it isn’t: come next month, and let’s say Michael Bloomberg is elected to a third term as mayor (although I hope not), what is going to prevent him from overturning the term limits law again, and [...]
The Second Avenue Subway – An Abomination of Taxpayer Waste
I have recently written to the Daily News as a rebuttal to an article about the relocating of tenants, demolition of buildings and the destruction of businesses on Second Ave. Since that time I have done additional research into the matter [...]
via the NY Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s re-election campaign can generate reams of statistics on how quickly the city repaired potholes in each neighborhood. It can produce memos on climate change and public health, and [...]
Now that Mike Bloomberg is in what would have been his final semester, I thought it would be a good time to grade him on his governance during these past two terms.
Housing and Buildings: Although Shaun Donovan was a smart HPD commissioner for most of the Bloomberg years, Mike's [...]
There is a crisis of leadership in this city. Beneath the glitzy, well-financed spin machine and calisthenic contortions for coins by those who unabashedly touch their toes for “the one”, it is there for all to see – if we care to look.
Four days after Vionique Valnord was killed [...]
Today the city of New York, badly strapped for cash, spent $15 million+ to hold a runoff election in the Democratic primary for Comptroller and Public Advocate. Less than 250,000 people voted. And what happened? The same guys who won the primary won again. Which almost always happens in New York. [...]
Neil Young on Gatemouth: 'You're all just pissin' in the wind, You don't know it but you are."
Actually, I knew it all along. Two weeks ago, I said:
"this day is bound to be repeated shortly in Citywide form as Mark Green spends the next two weeks of his [...]
Every few years, like clockwork, conservative pundit George Will falls in love with one or more Black or [...]
In the recent David v. Goliath political story, the David is real (Governor David Paterson); the Goliath (President Obama and his White House staffers) however, are nothing but symbols of so many things wrong with our present democracy. The problem is that so many of our electeds are too compromised [...]
As soon as the votes were tallied in last weeks local primaries in Brownstone Brooklyn folks that want to replace Joan Milllman have stepped foward. Potential candidates include Bob Zuckerman,Judi Francis,Ken Diamonstone and Doug Biviano.Bob and Ken will challenge Joan over her endorsement of John Heyer. Judi and Doug over [...]
People have questioned what a borough president's power is; David Casavis (R-Manhattan) is running to eliminate the borough president position. We know that a president of the United States, for example, can fire the head of General Motors.
A borough president's powers now seemingly involve the wages and benefits of anyone who works in Manhattan:
Union Workers [...]The September 29th runoff for NYC Comptroller pits John Liu, with a degree in mathematical physics and extensive financial experience, against David Yassky, a lawyer and career politician with no financial experience, whose financial abilities are so challeneged that in 2006 he threw $15,000 of taxpayer money to a [...]
“And some (like, it seems to me, our friend Gatemouth) simply think all candidates are pretty much the same and despair of finding excitement in supporting a candidate...in fact they seem disdainful of anyone who actually shows some enthusiasm for a candidate.” --MOLE333
Although I once made the observation above [...]Blogs have now discovered that Brooklyn has an "ACORN High School for Social Justice" and an "ACORN Community High School."
Why?
Why not a Working Families Party High School (WFP=ACORN), or a Democrat Party High School, or a Republican Party High School, or a Weather Underground High School? Why not an SEIU High [...]
With our pension system operating like a runaway bus which might explode if it slows down, what is called for is a City Comptroller with a reputation for honesty and integrity so shining that we are blinded by the bright light of their integrity.
Instead, we are facing a choice [...]
I have argued for some time that the right wing use of hate speech to stir up its base into a frothy tizzy has led to an increase in intolerance and hate crimes in America. Almost the entire Bush Administration saw a constant rise in hate crimes, most particularly [...]
I have decided to run for the New York City Council in the General Election on November 3. I will be running as a Democrat on the Working Families Party ballot line.
By now, you probably know the results of the recent Primary Election held on September 15th. I lost the [...]
Getting back to Government,' [...]
Dateline: 7/8/09 Washington DC
Patrick giggled as he read the words of praise for the new Lieutenant Governor published on “Room Eight”“The man…had brought the MTA into the 20th Century and just last year endeavored to bring it into the 21st;….
Today, in a stunning act of audacity, [...]
Mary Alice Miller, news, Larry Littlefield, Gatemouth, Rock Hackshaw, Jerry Skurnik, Dan Margolis -- NY State Communist Party, Yoda, NGD, davidqnyc, Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz, bklynpol, Hanshi, M Burgos
